Learn basic terms and information on a variety of eating disorder topics.
If this is your first visit to our web site, this is a great place to start. Once you have read through some background information, you may choose specific information for women and girls, men and boys, family and friends, educators and coaches, and treatment professionals.
If you have additional questions, you can Ask the Expert and review answers to commonly asked questions.
Each of the terms and topics below includes a link to further information.
Terms and definitions:
Anorexia Nervosa
Anorexia Nervosa is a serious, potentially life-threatening eating disorder characterized by self-starvation and excessive weight loss.
Binge Eating Disorder
Binge Eating Disorder (BED) is a type of eating disorder not otherwise specified and is characterized by recurrent binge eating without the regular use of compensatory measures to counter the binge eating.
Bulimia Nervosa
Bulimia Nervosa is a serious, potentially life-threatening eating disorder characterized by a cycle of bingeing and compensatory behaviors such as self-induced vomiting designed to undo or compensate for the effects of binge eating.
Eating disorders can be prevented:
Eating Disorders Can Be Prevented!
Eating disorders arise from a variety of physical, emotional, social, and familial issues, all of which need to be addressed for effective prevention and treatment.
Causes of eating disorders:
Causes of Eating Disorders
While eating disorders may begin with preoccupations with food and weight, they are most often about much more than food.
Body image issues:
Body Image
Body image is how you see yourself when you look in the mirror or picture yourself in your mind.
Every Body is Different
Genetics influence bone structure, body size, shape, and weight differently in every person.
Listen to Your Body
Eat what you want, when you are truly hungry. Stop when you're full. And eat exactly what appeals to you. Do this instead of any diet, and you are unlikely to ever have a weight problem, let alone an eating disorder. Eat when you are truly hungry. Stop when you are full.
No Weigh!
Signing this declaration of independence from a weight-obsessed world may help you accept your body's natural shape and size.
Ten "Will-Powers" for Improving Body Image
Taking care of your body and doing things you enjoy will enable you to enjoy a happy, participatory life.
Ten Steps To Positive Body Image
One list cannot automatically tell you how to turn negative body thoughts into positive body image, but it can help you think about new ways of looking more healthfully and happily at yourself and your body. The more you do that, the more likely you are to feel good about who you are and the body you naturally have.
The Media, Body Image, and Eating Disorders
Eating disorders are complex conditions that arise from a variety of factors, including physical, psychological, interpersonal, and social issues. Media images that help to create cultural definitions of beauty and attractiveness are often acknowledged as being among those factors contributing to the rise of eating disorders.
Twenty Ways to Love Your Body!
Think of your body as the vehicle to your dreams. Honor it. Respect it. Fuel it.
Health concerns:
Eating Concerns and Oral Health
Dietary habits can and do play a role in oral health. Everyone has heard from their dentist that eating too much sugar can lead to cavities, but did you know that high intake of acidic "diet" foods can have an equally devastating effect on your teeth?
Health Consequences of Eating Disorders
Eating disorders are real, complex, and devastating conditions that can have serious consequences for health, productivity, and relationships.
kNOw Dieting: Risks and Reasons to Stop
Americans spend more than $40 billion dollars a year on dieting and diet-related products.
Laxative Abuse: Some Basic Facts
Laxative abuse is serious and dangerous - often resulting in a variety of health complications and sometimes causing life-threatening risks.
Facts and statistics:
Facts for Activists (or anyone!)
In spite of the unprecedented growth of eating disorders in the past two decades, eating disorders research continues to be under-funded, insurance coverage for treatment is inadequate, and societal pressures to be thin remain rampant.
Research Results on Eating Disorders in Diverse Populations
Statistics
In the United States, as many as 10 million females and 1 million males are fighting a life and death battle with an eating disorder such as anorexia or bulimia. Millions more are struggling with binge eating disorder (Crowther et al., 1992; Fairburn et al., 1993; Gordon, 1990; Hoek, 1995; Shisslak et al., 1995).
Take action:
Tips for Becoming a Critical Viewer of the Media
One of the ways we can protect our self-esteem and body image from the media's often narrow definitions of beauty and acceptability is to become a critical viewer of the media messages we are bombarded with each day.
Seeking treatment:
Questions to Ask When Considering Treatment Options
There are various approaches to eating disorders treatment. It is important to find an option that is most effective for your needs.
Questions to Ask Your Treatment Provider
Once you have chosen a treatment provider, you may want to consider asking these questions in your first meeting.
Seeking Treatment
Because eating disorders are serious health conditions that can be both physically and emotionally destructive, professional help is always recommended. If not identified or treated in their early stages, eating disorders can become chronic, debilitating, and even life-threatening.
Sharing with EEEase
When you begin to notice that disordered eating habits are affecting your life, your happiness, and your ability to concentrate, it is important that you talk to somebody about what you're going through.
Treatment of Eating Disorders
The most effective and long-lasting treatment for an eating disorder is some form of psychotherapy or counseling, coupled with careful attention to medical and nutritional needs. Ideally, this treatment should be tailored to the individual and will vary according to both the severity of the disorder and the patient's individual problems, needs, and strengths.
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